Offshore staff

DUBLIN, Ireland --Ireland has secured a recommendation from the United Nations that establish the outer limits of Ireland's continental shelf in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain.

The additional area added to Ireland's continental shelf is some 56,000 sq km (21,622 sq mi), some 80% of the land area of the state.

"This means that Ireland is now in a position to establish the limits of its extended continental shelf (beyond 200 nautical miles or 230 miles) in this area and the limits based on the recommendations of the Commission are final and binding," says Noel Dempsey T.D., minister for Communications, Marine & Natural Resources.

Ireland made its submission for this area, known as Zone B, in 2005. To the south, in 2006 Ireland made a joint submission (together with France, Spain, and the UK) for the area known as Zone C in the Bay of Biscay. Examination of this submission has now been completed and recommendations for this area are expected to issue in September this year. To the north, informal talks are continuing on the Hatton-Rockall area with Faroes/Denmark, Iceland and the UK in an effort to progress to the definition of an outer limit in an area of overlapping claims from the four states.

4/24/2007